At least 10 of the 15 people who spoke at the meeting at Knights of Columbus Hall on Avenue C urged the commission to approve the Texas energy company’s plan to extend an existing Staten Island pipeline through parts of Bayonne, Jersey City and offshore Hoboken.

“Our people desperately need jobs,” said Mickey Harris, one of several members of Heavy and General Construction Laborers Local 472 speaking in support of the project.

“This pipeline project is truly a lifeline for my colleagues.”

A study by the Edward Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University states the pipeline project would create 1,400 construction jobs.

It points to a draft report FERC issued earlier this year that says the pipeline would create “only a slight increase in risk to the nearby public.”

However, Charles Kratovil, organizer of Food & Water Watch, a consumer advocacy organization, was booed when he said the “new pipeline poses serious threats to the public and the environment.”

“I don’t trust it when I am told this is the safest pipeline,” said Pat Graham, a resident of West 13th Street. “I appreciate that people are trying to get the job done, but I want my house to be in one piece.”

Several Bayonne council members attended the meeting but did not speak.

“The administration has been in a continuing dialogue with the pipeline developers about public safety issues,” according to a statement issued by Mayor Mark Smith.

The proposed pipeline still would run through a 65-acre tract near First Street and Avenue A slated for a $400 million residential and commercial development by Chevron Land Development and Kaplan Companies.

Carla Baker, project manager with Chevron Land Development, said it has been meeting with Spectra but “strongly disagrees” with the route, saying it posts a threat to surface water and would go through contaminated land.

“We are working very collaboratively to come to an agreement that will be mutually satisfactory,” said Marylee Hanley, a spokeswoman for Spectra Energy.

FERC expects expect to issue a Final Environmental Impact Study on Jan. 27 and could issue an approval after a minimum of 30 days.

FERC will hold its final meeting in Hudson County tonight at 7 at Ferris High School, 35 Colgate St. Jersey City Jersey City officials are opposed to the pipeline, and Mayor Jerramiah Healy frequently refers to the pipeline explosion in San Bruno, Calif., last year that killed eight people.